Residences, apartments and businesses continue to be broken into throughout the United States (U.S.) as well as the rest of the world. It is estimated that more than 2 million U.S. homes are victims of burglaries each year. Criminals specializing in burglary and break-ins know how to break into some 90-95% of residences through the front door. Statistics provided by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) and the Department of Justice indicate nearly ⅔rds of all break-ins occur with no sign of forced entry. Unlocked doors may account for some break-ins, however, most experts agree that bump keys, lock picking, or unauthorized key use are responsible for the majority of entry methods.
Apartments are 85% more likely to be burglarized than other types of housing (2006 National Crime Prevention Council—NCPC). 44% of all apartment dwellers install deadbolts as the most common protective method. Some 60% of renters state that management companies/landlords have installed deadbolts in their apartments. Internet data indicates about 15,239,000 apartments in the U.S. NCPC data indicate 44% of apartments have deadbolts implying roughly 6 million apartment deadbolt users are subject to break-ins via bump keys, lock picking, or unauthorized keys.
Apartment and business/building managers, assistants and certain maintenance staff have access keys. Turnover of these personnel has led to an alarming number of criminal cases of key duplication resulting in subsequent break-ins.
Recognizing the millions of residences and businesses that rely on deadbolts and the alarming statistics supporting criminal access despite the use of a deadbolt, the need for a foolproof, simple, and easily used device that can be placed on the interior side of a door (in a residence, an apartment, or other building) in conjunction with the door's existing deadbolt system to defeat break-ins by preventing the deadbolt from being unlocked from the outside while the building's occupants are inside is needed.